Dual sound-control switch



April 23, 1957 J. R. MILLER DUAL SOUND-CONTROL SWITCH Filed April 6, 1954 INVENTOR. JAMES R. MILLER A T TOR/VEYS United States Patent TIhe present invention relates to electrical switches, and pertains more particularly to a composite switching arrangement for selectively vremotely controlling the sound circuit of a televisionset, or cutting it off completely, as desired. I

There are many times when the owner of a television set does not wish to be disturbed by the sound of its operation, ,for example when operated by ones children.

At such times, one might like to havethe sound circuitof the set completely inoperative. At other times, it may be desirable tofbe able to make the sound circuit only temporarily .inoperative,,to cut out annoying commercial announcements. In the ,past, remote vcontrolswitches .of various types have been provided for. use in the sound circuits of television sets, but such prior art devices did notgive the ,full control many set owners, particularly parents of young children, may have desired.

I have now devised what might be termed a dual-function-control switching arrangement for .the sound circuit of a television set, whereby, the sound either may be momentarily cut off by a viewer without leaving hischair,

m 2,790,040 Patented Apr. 23, 1957 ice of molded dielectric material such as plastic or phenolic condensation product. Apair of similar, electrically conductivete'rminal clips 11 and 12, which may be of spring metal, aremounted in cavities 13 and 14, respectively, in the receptacle body 10. Each terminal clip has a pair of laterally extending locating tongues 17 thereon which fit into grooves 18 (Fig. 3) in the sides of the receptacle cavities 13 and 14 to properly position the clips in their respective cavities.

Externally exposed terminal screws 19 and 20 are screwed into threaded openings. provided therefor in the outer sides of the terminal clips 11 and 12, respectively.

. The terminal clips 11 and 12 are so located as to register with prong-receiving openings 22 and 23 in the receptacle body 10 to receive usual terminal prongs 24 and 25 (Fig. 5) of a conventional wall plug 21.

A sheetf28 of insulating material, suchlas fibre board, is mounted in a recess 29 provided therefor in the top of the receptacle body 10 to overlie the terminal clips 11 and 12 and to retain them in their respective cavities in the body 10.

A metal top plate 30 is mounted in closely superposed relation on the insulating sheet 29, and is retained in position thereon by a pair of downwardly bent ears 31,

or the sound circuit may he made inoperative for long periods and cannot be restored to operating conditio'nby one unfamiliar with the latter control feature of the;

invention.

In addition to the foregoing, an objectof the invention is to provide an improved and simplified mechanism for controlling the sound circuit ofa television set.

A further object'is to provide a sound-control-mechanism for television sets, which mechanism has a screwdown type of control switch mounted in a plug receptacle in the television set, and also has a secondary remotecontroLfeature. i U

'These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, comprising one sheet, where- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a receptacle type switch device for mounting, preferably in a concealed location, in or on a television set.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view'taken alongline 33 of Fig.

2, a clamp plate and screw being added.

Fig. 4 is a bottom elevational viewof the device shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view in reduced scale, showing a sectional view of the receptacle switch device similar to Fig. 2, a wall plug also being shown with its terminal prongs inse'rted in the receptacle; the speaker and a hand switch control circuit of a television set being indicated diagrammatically.

each having divergent lower end portions 32 which fit into a correspondingly shaped recess 33 providedone in each side of the receptacle body 10.

A conductor pin 34 is secured, as by silver soldering 35 to one of the terminal clips 12 and projects upwardly through aligned holes provided therefore inthe insulative sheet 28 and the metal top plate 30, to the latter of which it is soldere'dat 37. h

A tubular, internally-threaded metal boss 40 is silver soldered at 41 to the rnetalftop plate 30 to'proj'ect up wardly therefrom. The bos's 40 overliesfthe other terminal clip 11, and an electrically conductive contact screw 42 is'threadedly inserted in the boss 40; The screw 42 Fig. 6 is a view somewhat similar to Fig. 5 but show- 7 ing the wall plug removed from the receptacle, and they receptacle-mounted switch closed to activate the sound circuit of the television set.

Referring to the drawings in detail, a receptacle type' of control'device-A for mounting on or adjacentfto a television set, consists of a body portion 10 which may be through the boss 40 and through registering holes provided therefor in the metal top plate 30and in the insulative sheet 28.

When'the contact screw 42 is 'screwedax'ially outwardly as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, so that it is clear of the terminal clip 11, above which it is mounted, 'no contact will be made b'etween the clip members'11 and 12 through the metal top plate 30. I

When the contact screw 42 is screwed down to engage the terminal clip 11, however, the terminal-clips'li and 12 will be in electrical contact with each other-through the pin 34, the metal "toppl 'at'e --30 andthe contact screw 42.

The device A may be mounted on the television set B (Figs. Sand 6) by cutting a conductor 49 on one side of the sound or loud-speaker control circuit, and then connecting the cut ends 4% and 49b of this conductor fto the terminal screws 19 and 20 respectively.

A slightly different wiring'arrangernent is required for connecting the device to some speaker circuits, but since such arrangement will be readily apparent to anyone skilled in the art, and since it forms no part of the present invention,'itwill not be illustrated in detail herein.

With the cut ends 49a and 49b of the wire 49 leading to one side of the'loud-speaker 50 of the television set B attached to the terminal. clips 11 and 12 by the termi- I nal screws 19 and 20, the-receptacle device A is ready for use. I i I Preferably the receptacle switch A is concealed'in the v by one seated in front'ofthe television set 13. to watch a program, the wall plug 27 may be inserted in the receptacle A as illustrated in Fig. 5, with the terminal prongs 24 and 25 of the plug 27 inserted in the receptacle terminal clips 11 and 12 of the receptacle switch A. Flexible conductor wires 52 and 53 are connected to the terminal prongs 24 and 25, respectively, and lead to the terminals 54 and 55 of a conventional hand switch 57.

When the hand switch 57 is to be employed for remote control of the sound circuit of the television set B, the control screw 42 of the receptacle switch A is screwed outwardly as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 5 to disconnect the terminal clips 11 and 12 through the top plate 30.

When it is desired to activate the loud-speaker 519, the hand switch 57 may be closed, as shown in Fig. 5, thereby completing a circuit from one side of the speaker 50 through the speaker conductor 49a, terminal clip 12, terminal prong 25, one flexible conductor 53, hand switch 57, the other flexible conductor 52, plug terminal prong 24, the other receptacle terminal clip 11 and conductor 49]) to the other side of the speaker 59. When it is desired to de-activate the sound circuit, for example, during an undesirable commercial announcement, the hand switch 57 may be opened to open this circuit.

When it is desired to leave the television set B in operating condition, so that it may be operated through its regular controls (not shown) the control screw 42 may be screwed down as shown in Fig. 6 to close the circuit between the receptacle terminal clips 11 and 12 through the top plate 30. The wall plug 27 then may be removed, and in this condition the set B may be operated by means of its normal controls in the same manner as though the present device were not installed there- Should it be desired to de-activate the sound circuit and make it impossible to operate the loud-speaker 50 through the normal television set controls (not shown) the control screw 42 may be unscrewed completely and removed from the receptacle switch A, or, in any event, may be screwed out to the position shown in Figs. 2 and 5, and the plug 27 removed from the receptacle switch A. In such condition the sound circuit of the set will be completely inoperative.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood however, that various changes and modifications may be made in the details thereof without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A control device for a television set having an electrical circuit comprising a receptacle for receiving the prongs of a wall plug with a flexible extension cord and a hand actuated switch connected thereto, a pair of terminal clips mounted in said receptacle to contact selectively the prongs of a wall plug inserted therein, a terminal screw on each terminal clip for connecting a conductor thereto, a metal plate overlying both of said terminal clips, an insulative sheet interposed between the metal plate and the terminal clips, a conductor electrically connected to one of said clips and extending through the insulative sheet into electrical contact with the metal plate, a contact screw threadedly mounted in a threaded hole provided therefor in the metal plate over an integral portion of the other terminal clip, said screw being aligned to advance axially through a hole provided therefor in the insulative sheet into electrical contact with said portion of the other terminal clip, and to retract to a position clear of the other terminal clip, selectively to activate and de-activate a circuit to which the control device is connected.

2. A control device for an electrical circuit comprising a receptacle for receiving the prongs of a wall plug with a flexible extension cord and a hand actuated switch connected thereto, a pair of terminal clips mounted in said receptacle to contact the prongs of a wall plug inserted therein, means on each terminal clip for connecting a conductor thereto, a metal plate overlying both of said terminal clips, an insulative sheet interposed be tween the metal plate and the terminal clips, a conductor electrically connecting one of said clips with the metal plate, a contact screw threadedly mounted in a threaded hole provided therefor in the metal plate over an integral portion of the other terminal clip, said screw being aligned to screw through a hole provided therefor in the insulative sheet into electrical contact with the other terminal clip, and to retract to a position clear of the other terminal clip, selectively to activate and deactivate a circuit to which the control device is connected, said screw being completely removable from the metal plate for continued de-activation of such sound circuit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS wall 

